Radio Station!
Me and my mate Tom were unemployed, bored and stoned musicians. Fearing total withering of our souls from under/mis-use we decided to start our own radio station. 'What super fun we'll have! Just like the proper DJs" etc etc mindless gibberish.

The rules of the radio server we used were quite simple...

1. No hate speech - easy... we are peaceful stoners

2. No swearing before the watershed - we took this with a pinch of salt as internet radio is global therefore it always past the watershed somewhere in the world. Of course this means that it is also always before the watershed somewhere in the world. "Well, we have to ignore ONE of them otherwise we can NEVER swear and where would be the fun in that?"

3. All music played must have the full written permission of the copyright holder - Bums. A tricky one. No 'Led Zeppelin Hour' then. "But we have loads of music we've recorded ourselves and know loads of people in bands... shouldn't be too tricky!"

This went on for a week or two... Tom and myself getting boxed, playing our own music and a few tracks from friend's bands, about two hours worth in total, and talking gibberish at anyone we could convince to listen to us.

Then - BRAINWAVE! One of our friends was running a Facebook campaign to try and get an unsigned band into the charts. We could get the list of entrants from him, contact all the bands asking for mp3s and the all important permission, promote the hell out of his campaign and get loads more listeners.

That was about a year and a half ago. The station has had many ups and downs since then. At one point we were broadcasting every single day, we've played tracks recommended by B3TA including all of Kunt and the Gang and another band featured in the newsletter called Dataloaf, put gigs on up and down the country, had loads of unsigned bands in for interviews and live sessions and we're STILL going. Our database currently contains approximately 12 consecutive DAYS of music, all of it sourced by emailing bands and, more recently, by bands who have heard of us getting in touch and asking for airplay.

It's very much an ongoing project and broadcasting has scaled back considerably to fit around things like having to go to work. I can only do shows on Thursdays at the moment but hoping to get more stuck into that as time goes on.

Now, shill as I am, I'd very much like to chuck a link at the bottom of this post but am managing to restrain myself. However, if any B3TAN musicians or curious music lovers out there are interested gaz me or ask in the comments and I'll give you the linky/airplay you desire.
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 15:37, 10 replies)

If it makes you feel any better, there's no watershed for UK radio.
"Radio edits" of songs are not compulsory, they just serve to keep down the volume of complaints.

Nice story, by the way. Certainly beats my childhood efforts of talking into a tape recorder and never (ever) letting anyone else hear it.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 15:57, closed)

That
really is some of the better news I've heard all month. We just assumed it was the same rules as for TV that we were choosing to ignore.

We are currently on the lookout for podcasters so send us that tape :)
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 16:17, closed)

Long since taped over with the best of Madness, or some such.
Your station really doesn't need to hear my friend pretending to be Radio Luxembourg (fading his voice out, then back up), accompanied by me laughing nervously, not getting the joke.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 18:31, closed)

I used to do this as a kid, sometimes with my mate.
We'd make our long suffering parents listen to it.

"Dis iz MMPS radio. I'm... I'm..."
*voice now scarily loud*
"...Going to tewl a joke den play some Wham."
( mark morrisons prison shoes I love Willie, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 16:44, closed)

Well I hope you won't be upsetting Cliff
like Absolute 60 Radio did.
Srsly, well done, there aren't enough channels for what you are doing.
So where's the linky?
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Sun 20 Nov 2011, 17:13, closed)

We won't be playing any Cliff
because he is signed, not because he's a cunt.

Thanks for the positivity :)
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Tue 22 Nov 2011, 23:58, closed)

I've had quite a few positive responses
And a fair few gazzes aswell so here's the info:

The url is www.xrpradio.co.uk/radio/stickam

But that link will be a wall of silence until Thursday 6pm ish when my show starts.

For bands/artists wishing to submit music for airplay there's a few simple rules...
1. We require the permission of the copyright holder and acknowledgement that the music will be played royalty free. We don't have any kind of PRS license and can't afford one so this is strict.
2. We prefer MP3s which have been properly ID3 tagged with band name, track title and etc. Too many times we have lost music in our database because iTunes shows it as 'Track5' by 'Unknown Artist'
3. send this info to [email protected] Put b3ta in the subject line and if I get enough tracks I'll do a b3ta segment in the show.

Thanks everyone for the positive responses and messages of encouragement.
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Sun 20 Nov 2011, 19:21, closed)

Hmm, I'll be emailing you shortly, oh yes I will :)
Or if you can't stand the anticipation, www.skullfunk.com :)
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 21 Nov 2011, 13:22, closed)

Brutal
Please do email me... I like your music :)
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Mon 21 Nov 2011, 14:31, closed)

Cheers!

(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 21 Nov 2011, 16:20, closed)